The Iliad of Homer

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The Iliad of Homer
Honor is something men and women have fought for century after century. Even now, thousands of American and British men are fighting in Iraq, near to where the Trojan War was to have taken place. These men fight for the greater good. They fight for those in Iraq who are unable to fight for or otherwise defend themselves. They fight for honor. The characters in the Iliad are motivated by their own form of honor, or arete, known similarly as the Homeric Code. And it is because of this code that the Trojan War began. The characters in this story are shown to possess arete, but some have different ideas as to how vastly and to what rate it should be respected. And because of this, many a man’s honor is disturbed.
The Homeric Code can be defined as “unwritten rules that guide the conduct of the Homeric Heroes.” For the Homeric Heroes, success means survival and greater honor; failure means death and removal from the struggle for honor. What the Heroic code means is that honor is more important than life itself. It is obvious throughout the books that the characters of high honor are the ones that ignore warnings to stay away from danger, battles, and the like. Courage, physical abilities, and social status are also important contributions to the Homeric code. To truly understand this code and the true dedication to it as told by Homer, means becoming accustom to the values kept by those in this story.
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